Barry becher biography

American brand of direct marketed knives

Ginsu (; pseudoword meant to evoke the idea of samurai heritage)^[1] is a brand of direct marketed knives. The brand is owned by the Douglas Quikut Division of Scott Fetzer, a Berkshire Hathaway Company. The brand was heavily promoted in the late s and s on U.S.

television by using infomercials characterized by hawker and hard sell pitch techniques. The commercials generated sales of between two and three million Ginsu sets between and ^[2]

Early history

Ginsu knives are an evolution of a product line developed by the Clyde Castings Company.

The company filed for a trademark on the Quikut name for use on carving knives, butcher knives, fruit knives, kitchen knives and can openers in ^[3]

Quikut knives were heavily advertised in the U.S. and Canada as inexpensive, stainless steel, hollow ground knives with a lifetime guarantee.^[4] Other well known brands that used Quikut knives as promotional items including Lipton Tea^[5] and Oxydol.^[6]

Large national newspaper, magazine and radio campaigns were used to market Quikut as far back as the s.

A campaign resulted in orders for , units. A campaign included a print ad on the back cover of the Saturday Evening Post.^[7]

In , Quikut Corporation added spot television to their marketing effort and hired Cinécraft Productions, a sponsored film studio in Cleveland, to make a series of Quikut TV spots.^[8] In Cinécraft made the first filmed infomercial – a minute filmed commercial for the Natural Foods Institute promoting the Vitamix blender.

The studio was an early producer of TV spots and made for TV programs.^[9]

The copy points used in the and later Ginsu commercials were used by Ron Popeil, the early TV marketer, in the s.^[10] and the Cinécraft Quikut knife commercials produced in the s.^[11][12] “Great Scott…a knife that cuts trees!” “And that’s not all.” “Well, What do you know?

The other side of the knife is sharp enough for a professional meat cutter.” “The knife’s safeguard handle, beautifully finished in simulated ivory, is boil proof, dishwasher steam proof, and shatterproof.” “guaranteed for life by Quikut.” “The new forked tip, let’s you carve and serve with one hand.” “Yes, but how much? 69 cents!

Barry becher biography Becher and Valenti sold millions of their Ginsu knives after the debut of their commercial. Read Edit View history. Was this article helpful? List of daggers List of blade materials.

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The Ginsu brand

Because the brand name "Quikut" was said to lack panache, Ed Valenti, Barry Becher, and copywriter Arthur Schiff created a new brand name that alluded to the exceptional sharpness and durability of a Japanese sword. Ginsu commercials they created promoted “an amazing, low, low price!,” urging viewers to “Order now!” because “Operators are standing by,” and sweetened the pitch with the Ginsu trademark, “But wait, there’s more!” — was an inescapable staple of television in the s.

The brand also became a part of pop culture. Johnny Carson sometimes used the knives in his routines, and Jerry Seinfeld did a Ginsu bit on the “Tonight Show.”^[13]

Media scholar Robert Thompson, of Syracuse University, called the Ginsu advertising campaign "the pitch of all pitches." "Ginsu has everything a great direct-response commercial could have," said John Witek, a marketing consultant and author of Response Television: Combat Advertising of the s.

"Ginsu had humor, demonstration, and a precisely structured series of premium offers I call 'the lots-for-a-little approach'."^[14][15]

Valenti and Becher later repeated the advertising formula with other products such as the Miracle Slicer, Royal Durasteel mixing bowls, Vacufresh storage containers, the Chainge Adjustable Necklace, and Armourcote Cookware.

TV pitchmen Billy Mays and Vince Offer employed the hard-sell informercial to great success in more contemporary times.

While the name Ginsu was invented by Becher, Becher later (satirically) told an interviewer the word translates to, "I never have to work again."^[16] In April , a stretch of road in Warwick, Rhode Island, which passes the office of Ed Valenti, was named "Ginsu Way."^[17]

The knife brand gained notoriety in when Lorena Bobbitt used a Ginsu kitchen knife to sever her husband's penis^[18] while he slept.

Company ownership

In the s Clyde Castings Company changed their company name to the Quikut Corporation.

In early the Quikut Corporation merged with an automotive company to become Douglas Quikut. Later in the firm was purchased by the Scott & Fetzer Company a holding company that wanted to use the company's plastic molding capabilities to manufacture parts for its Oreck and Kirby lines of vacuum cleaners.

Quikut continued as a brand name under the Quikut Division of Scott & Fetzer.^[19]

In Scott & Fetzer was purchased by Berkshire Hathaway of Omaha, NE, an insurance holding company and the Quikut and Ginsu brand knife production moved to a new plant in Walnut Ridge, Arkansas in ^[20]

In , Consumer Reports reviewed the Ginsu Chikara knife set in their comparison of fifty knife sets and rated it as their "Best Buy."^[21][22][23]

In Ginsu expanded beyond knives and launched a Kamado grill in a partnership with MyDIY Center.^[24]

In , Ginsu knives were still manufactured and sold by Douglas Quikut and the Quikut brand is sometimes used as well.

The company also manufactures ReadiVac and American Angler brands.

References

Further reading

• Becher, Barry; Ed Valenti (), The Wisdom of Ginsu: Carve Yourself a Piece of the American Dream, Franklin Lakes, NJ: Career Press, ISBN&#;
• Isabel Gottlieb (). "30 Years Later, This Iconic Knife Still Carving Its Name".

  Features. Brown Daily Herald. Archived from the original on

• Reynolds, Bill (December 12, ), "GINSU! It came from Warwick – it devoured the marketing world", Sunday Journal Magazine, p.&#;3.
• Auchmutey, Jim (), "But wait, there's more!", Advertising Age Special Report, p.&#;1.
• Smith, Andy (March 28, ), "But wait, there's more!", Providence Journal, p.&#;1.
• Ron Popeil, Philip Kives, Ed Valenti and Barry Becher, Robert Thompson, among others ().

• Barry becher biography wife
• Barry becher dies
• Barry becher biography images

Gadget Mania: The History and Evolution of the Informercial (DVD). Discovery Communications, Inc.

• "Early () TV Commercial for Quikut". Hagley Library Digital Archives. Department of History, Case Western Reserve University. Retrieved 1 April
• "An Obsession with Steak Knives". . 8 January Retrieved 1 April

External links